Chun didn't go directly to the private room on the second floor. As usual, he sat in the common area on the first floor with a big cup of chrysanthemum and goji berry tea, "patrolling." There was actually a mysterious third floor, which was rumored to be reserved by some Azure Sky professional e-sports team, and idlers were not allowed in.
Internet cafés once declined due to the popularity of home computers, but the advent of "Global Mining" made them explode in popularity again. Firstly, game upgrade pods were quite pricey. Secondly, a central server offering 6G internet speed was necessary, otherwise, logging on meant being overwhelmed by millions of player avatars in the main city, something ordinary networks couldn't handle.
The common area was filled with long-term, monthly-paying pros. Chun could learn a lot quickly by asking and observing them, and he mostly knew the development trends of global players.
The pros were already used to Chun's antics and often joked: "The boss is here for inspections again? No female companions here, this is a decent internet café!"
"What's Brother Chun's plan? The servers are about to go live officially. I can take Brother Chun to the countryside to dig advanced mines!"
"You must be kidding? Brother Chun is a VIP who stays in private rooms! How can he mine? He should be out at sea fishing and cruising, having a whirlpool romance with a mermaid…"
"Are you testing Brother Chun's soft spot with this?"
Chun actually enjoyed this feeling: "How much did Great God exchange?"
"At least enough to cover this monthly fee, but once the official server starts, raiding villages will bring in much more than this."
Another pro laughed and added: "That's what all the Curry Island people think; when thousands go to war, it'll be chaos…"
It had to be said, all solo or group opening strategies had been thoroughly understood by the beta pros. Comparing regular play, operation, and grinding to these young players gave Chun no advantage.
So Chun could only gamble on the hidden quest stream that no beta pro recommended, hoping to succeed. Even if he was only half a step ahead of regular players, he could stand out among hundreds of millions globally. If not, he would just have to handle mining as a part-time while continuing to look for a job.
Chun returned to his private room on the second floor to start the game.
The game's backstory was simple: five pioneer fleets from the old world discovered the supercontinent filled with monsters and minerals. The fleets initially landed on the coast and defended against the creatures, gradually expanding until they developed the landing points into five prosperous and powerful harbor city-states, which are the five main cities where newbie players are born.
Because they were old cities, valuable mines around were mostly exhausted during their construction, making it very difficult for newcomers to find advanced minerals. They could only follow the pioneers' tracks deep into the interior villages and towns of the continent, where there were more mines, stronger monsters, and difficult transportation. Those unwilling to mine could go out to sea to fish and trade or follow the pirate king path.
The city's financial system was both advanced and conservative. Players carried no cash; all transactions were processed through bank accounts, and converting to real currency was also through bank channels, which effectively prevented theft and robbery. However, banks did not support player-to-player transfers, meaning the game initially prevented players from quickly amassing wealth through fund-raising. Players set up stalls much like flea markets, relying on barter.
Of course, compared to the mysterious Golden Continent, it was the old world that was truly enigmatic. Players were all pioneers with little knowledge of the old world.
...
Chun logged into the city, which was filled with fireworks and festive celebrations.
——System prompt: Welcome to the game. It is currently 8:10 PM Golden Continent time. You have received the "Black Iron Pioneer City" festival celebration luck bonus! Wishing your dreams come true.
——System prompt: You earned 83 coins from your offline mining and selling. The beta test will end and wipe today. Please exchange your mining coins at the main city bank promptly to avoid losses.
...
Game time and real-time are 1:1, based on the Western Hemisphere. Chinese players experiencing "day-night reversal" didn't pose much of an issue.
By this time, most players were probably celebrating wildly and liquidating their assets. But Chun had to use all his saved 6000 coins for a decisive strike on the hidden quest line "Flower Girl" and "Bar Dancer." Throughout the beta, Chun focused resources on doing just three things: mining for money, buying flowers, and giving them to the bar dancer. He didn't participate in any other activities.
Based on Chun's understanding of game development and AI, developing AI requires a colossal amount of data. Female shopping and emotional topics represent the largest global databases, having already birthed small AIs like "Love Assistant" and "Jerk Protection Guide." So Chun focused on these two NPCs that were involved in both "shopping" and "emotions."
On the other hand, the game developers were unscrupulous, defeating human intelligence through NPCs' "deception game," which is how AI was achieved—hence why no beta pro recommended hidden quest streams, since NPCs are really tricky! Or, in other words, the overall moral level of this Golden Continent was not high.
But Chun had his own understanding: among friends, nine out of ten might be fake. Yet every adversary you meet is genuine! So, in a way, enemies could be more reliable; as long as they were reliable, it wasn't unplayable…
...
Chun first went to the flower shop to find the simple-looking night-shift girl Sherry, and there was only one way to increase her friendliness: buying the products she recommended so she could earn a sales commission.
The high-end product she recommended to Chun was a bundle of chilling "Royal Court Flower Crystal Frost Rose," priced at 3000 coins, equivalent to more than 3000 bucks in reality.